Film study: Breaking down Justin Fields’ two interceptions

At the end of an ugly slog that ended with the Bears beating the Texans 23-20, quarterback Justin Fields was asked Sunday what bothered him the most about his performance.

His answer took three words.

‘‘Just the picks,’’ he said.

Breaking down Fields’ two interceptions, another takeaway by safety Eddie Jackson and the Bears’ upstart running game:

The picks

With 2:54 left in the first quarter, Fields was in the shotgun with running back Khalil Herbert to his left.

Tight end Cole Kmet lined up as a receiver — as the middle man in a trips formation — with his toe on the line of scrimmage. Darnell Mooney, the inside man in the trips set, motioned into the backfield and lined up at right halfback. On the snap, he ran behind Fields on a swing route left.

Kmet got a free release on a seam route. When Fields released the ball in his direction, Kmet was at the 30-yard line, sprinting forward. By the time the ball zoomed past him, there were only two Texans defenders, both between the numbers and between the 30- and 40-yard lines.

Safety Jalen Pitre was at the 41. The ball went right to him. Fields had led Kmet too far.

‘‘Cole was my first read,’’ Fields said. ‘‘Cole was open. I just missed the throw.’’

In the Bears’ locker room, Kmet was asked about the pick. Midway through his answer, Fields, whose locker was a few feet away, chimed in, telling Kmet that he didn’t make a good throw.

‘‘I’ll never say that,’’ Kmet said.

Fields’ first interception was an inaccurate throw. The second, however, was more disconcerting.

Fields was in an empty formation on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Texans played cover-2, which meant that the middle linebacker was covering Mooney on a seam route out of the right slot.

As Fields threw toward Mooney, he was hit by Texans defensive end Maliek Collins, who had beaten right tackle Larry Borom to the inside. But it was a bad decision from the start. Mooney had three defenders on him — the middle linebacker and both safeties. Pitre intercepted the ball.

‘‘He’s just got to handle the ball better,’’ coach Matt Eberflus said of Fields. ‘‘He just can’t put the ball in harm’s way. He knows that. And that particular play, he did.’’

The pass was so off that Mooney looked left before having to turn his head to look over his right shoulder for the ball.

‘‘At that time, I wanted to get the ball to Darnell,’’ Fields said. ‘‘He was running on the ‘Mike’ linebacker. Wanted to get by him — back shoulder, something like that. Ball just sailed too high. Safety got there.’’

Fields could have checked the ball down to Kmet, who had chipped a blocker and run out to the right flat. He would have had to make at least one defender miss to convert on third-and-six.

‘‘Next time, do a check-down,’’ Fields said. ‘‘That’s one thing I’m going to work on this week: Getting pressure, boom, check down.’’

Tip of the cap

With 53 seconds left in the first quarter, the Texans lined up in the shotgun with a tight end and two receivers split right. The Bears were playing man coverage.

‘‘It was a tough formation for me, with me being off the ball and three yards deep,’’ cornerback Kindle Vildor said.

Quarterback Davis Mills looked right on second-and-goal from the Bears’ 7 and threw a slant to his first read, outside receiver Brandin Cooks. Vildor ran with Cooks and cut underneath the route, diving to try to make an interception.

‘‘Quarterback kind of underthrew him a little bit,’’ Vildor said. ‘‘I tried to catch it myself.’’

The ball bounced off both his arms and floated in the air — and into the arms of Jackson in the back of the end zone for an interception.

Vildor struggled Sunday. Mills had a 133.9 passer rating when targeting Vildor, completing 5 of 8 passes for 77 yards and a touchdown. Vildor was penalized for illegal contact, too.

But he was part of a defensive backfield that managed to win without star cornerback Jaylon Johnson. That might not have happened without Vildor’s diving tip.

‘‘We knew they liked to run that route,’’ Jackson said. ‘‘That was one of the heavy emphases for us in the red zone.’’

Tough run

Herbert’s first touchdown run, an 11-yarder in the first quarter, drew plenty of plaudits in the Bears’ film session Monday.

‘‘Guys were pumped,’’ Kmet said.

The Bears lined up in an I-formation, with fullback Khari Blasingame between Fields and Herbert. Kmet and left tackle Braxton Jones — who were lined up next to each other — blocked down, and left guard Cody Whitehair pulled left and blocked Pitre, who was at the line of scrimmage. Blasingame took out linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill.

Herbert bounced left, ran toward the left sideline and ducked inside Borom, who had run halfway across the field and pushed linebacker Garret Wallow from the left hash all the way out of bounds.

‘‘That was a fun play,’’ Kmet said. ‘‘We moved the line of scrimmage there. That was really cool to watch.’’